Dozens of large pro-Israel banners were hung on Thursday in Hebron in response to the far-Left organization Breaking the Silence’s Tel-Aviv billboard encouraging Eurovision tourists to join its tours in Hebron.
“Jews are only allowed on one street in Hebron, which is only 3% of the city!” reads one of the banners, hung by the Jewish Community of Hebron together with the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu.
“Breaking the Silence Lies,” reads another banners, explaining that “Israeli investigative TV show HaMakor found that the majority of ‘facts’ told by ‘Breaking the Silence’ are NOT TRUE.”
Breaking the Silence was founded in 2004 and claims that its purpose is to expose violations by IDF soldiers in the Liberated Territories. But the group has been criticized by a majority of Israelis public for its frequently debunked testimonies, and the fact that so many of them are given anonymously.
It turns out that when an IDF reservist discovers that someone has blasted him with a blatant lie from behind the cover of anonymity, he or she are not enamored with the project as a result. BtS has also been criticized for reneging on their original mission, which was to encourage dialogue in Israeli society over the problems inherent in being a soldier in the midst of a hostile, Arab population. But those days are gone, and BtS is now dedicated to supplying the goods for European anti-Israel propaganda, in exchange for foreign funding.
“Breaking the Silence understood after the elections that they have no support in Israel and no way to get donors,” said Yishai Fleisher, spokesperson for the Jewish Community of Hebron. “Therefore, they are now trying to fool tourists who are unaware about the situation and who are willing to buy their lies.”
Yehuda Sharabany, project coordinator for Im Tirtzu, said that Breaking the Silence is taking advantage of innocent tourists to turn them against Israel.
“But now,” said Sharabany, “our signs will show them the truth. This organization has been repeatedly caught lying and we will continue to expose their lies for all to see.”
